DOTTEREL. 569 



that but few were met with. On the moors in the route 

 travelled by the birds on their way to the north-west 

 heavy toll was exacted ; Mr. J. H. Phillips remarked (Nat. 

 1890, p. 15), that about the middle of the past century 

 numerous flocks were found on the Hambleton Hills ; between 

 Dialstone Inn and South Woods he had put up hundreds on 

 the moors ; on the Wensleydale moors it used to be sought 

 regularly every year for feathers for anglers {op. cit. 1886, 

 p. 186). Additional evidence of its former abundance (if 

 such is required), on the spring passage over the Wolds and 

 along the coast line in the district mentioned by Strickland, 

 is afforded by the house named " Dotterel Inn " at Reighton, 

 which was built by one of the Strickland family, and the sign 

 painted by Mrs. Strickland. It is said in that district that 

 the Inn was designed for the accommodation of gamekeepers, 

 who came from all parts to the neighbourhood of Reighton and 

 Hunmanby for the purpose of shooting Dotterel in the spring. 



At the present time the bird is a fairly regular visitor, 

 in limited numbers, to its old haunts, while on passage to and 

 from its breeding places on the mountains of the north. 

 On the vernal migration the earliest recorded date for its 

 appearance is i8th February 1901, two being seen on that day 

 at Kilnsea by the late G. W. Jalland, who informed me of 

 the fact shortly afterwards. The usual time, however, is 

 about the end of April or early in May, and at this season it 

 is met with in small " trips " of from two to fifty in number ; 

 the largest flock I have known at the Teesmouth was in May 

 1903, and comprised fully thirty birds, but on 6th May 1897, 

 fifty were observed near the " Dotterel " Inn at Reighton. 

 They return year by year to certain old-time haunts ; there 

 is a field at Easington, near Spurn, where they have occurred 

 from time immemorial, and fall an easy prey if a gunner 

 appears ; they also visit the Wolds regularly, and well-known 

 localities in the Reighton and Hunmanby districts, while at 

 the Teesmouth a certain strip of short grass land is annually 

 visited in May and September ; several other similar instances 

 might be cited if necessary. 



The proverbial tameness of the Dotterel in spring is by 



